Dreams of the Fallen
by EurekaSeven21
Summary: On the very day that Manhattan is invaded, another major city is invaded; Boston. Now we get to see the chaos from another view point and a single woman's life is to change irreversibly, as she will have to come to grips of the reality and try to find a way through it all, as well to find herself and the question one asks her "Why do we keep fighting?"


Tyler Theisen  
>Fiction<br>Leslie Erikson

The Dreams of the Fallen

July 17, 2004. A day which shall be lived in infamy, as invaders from another country came kicking down the U.S's door. Lives forever changed as the people in Boston watched the tanks rumble behind the rows of soldiers who bore the dusky green and red star uniforms, the gunships flying about. Soon the army began replacing the flags that once held the proud stars and stripes on the flagpoles and in their place, the solid red and bright yellow hammer and sickle.

Some had perhaps wondered why they hadn't foreseen the outcome of the invasion, while others had seen it and tried warming the people, only to be simply ignored like the leader of Movement in Manhattan called the Movement Against the Reds, Isabella Angelina. Then there were those who welcome the new change of Government with open arms like the news anchor Tanya Kemplenski.

A month following the Invasion, chaos seems to be a part of daily life in Boston as 23 year old Alyx Trisdale tried continuing the life she previously had. Co operating with the invaders, she became a part of the system, not wanting to suffer the fate of the people she had heard about. New anchors, teachers, and police officers had been taken to camps to be "re-educated", people were taken to prison camps for suspicious activities, and many more. It wasn't till the day someone knocked on her door, did it changed.

The rain fell that day, covering Boston like a blanket, thunder roaring across the sky. Coop up in her apartment in downtown Boston, Alyx laze on her couch, wrap in multiple layers of blankets as if encase in a cocoon. She glances out of the window, seeing her reflection. She used to look stunning; some claim she's the reincarnation of Aphrodite in the Greek mythology. However, her once shining brunette hair is now messy and tangle, looking drab. Her bleak blue eyes then moves to focus on something else. Staring dully at the TV, she watches the SAFN (Soviet Army Forces News), the news anchor begins speaking how the Soviet troops are bravely fighting off "Terrorists". Suddenly there is banging at the door, her heart began pounding as thoughts begin bouncing in her mind.

_**Oh my god, is it the Soviet soldiers? I didn't do anything wrong, not that I know of**_**…**

The banging at the door continues, Alyx kept to her spot frozen, until a familiar voice cries out. "Alyx please open up!" Her eyes widen, for it was her younger brother Dustin or 'Dusty' as she calls him. Breaking out of her cocoon, she bolts to the door. Taking precaution however, she cracks a small opening looking out as the familiar emerald eyes and dirty blond hair face came into view. Letting him in, water drips from his drench clothes his hair messy and wet as she looks at him with worry, asking.

"Dusty what's wrong? Don't tell me the Soviets are searching for you…" She says biting her lower lip as he looked down, somberly nodding. "Dusty what did you do!" She asks terrify of what the things he could've possibly done. "What I did wrong? I did what I thought was right… those bastards… because of those bastards Trina is dead!" Alyx was about yell back in reply when the words became stuck in her throat. "Trina's…dead..?" Tears start swelling in her eyes, her best friend been taken away from the plane of the living. Breaking down, she cries as hard as she could. Her brother then embraces her, comforting her. Finally after crying for a couple of minutes Dustin finally asks "Do you think I can hide out here for a while…until search parties cool down..?" he asks softly as Alyx nods, as she then got blankets and covers him.

Weeks pass as her brother join the "Terrorists" as the SRANN call them. To the people of Boston however, they're Freedom Fighters, fighting to repel the 'Reds'. Following the system in public, she began assisting anyone put on the SOS (Shoot On Sight) list of the Red Army, however she always held the fear that eventually she will be discover, or ratted out. Listing to what the SAFN says about the current activities in the city of Boston, Alyx paced around in her apartment tending to the wounds of men and women. One of them, a man who looks to be in his mid thirties asked her.

"Why do we continue to fight? It's pointless. For every soldier we take down, two more takes his place. For every tank we blow, a helicopter gunship appears. We're fighting a war we can't win…"

Blinking as he said all this, she sits down next to the soldier looking in her med kit for the right tools. Grabbing the syringe of morphine, she then slips the needle into the skin by the wound site. Waiting a ten to fifteen minutes, she begins stitching up the wound as she begins to speak.

"Sometimes I ask myself that question as well. When the invasion first happened, all I wanted to do was to keep myself safe. Soon however, one friend died, then another, if don't do anything, then more of my friends will die. I may not be able to do much, but I'm willing to help uphold the dreams of the fallen, and help the populace realize that the American dream still exists. Tell me, what's your name?" The man blinks as he looks up at her before finally replying "Elijah Stannton…"

Finally finishing sewing the last stitch thread to close the wound, static shot out of the radio across the room as Dusty begins speaking. "You ne- to get ev-one out of th-re, there been spo-ing of multiple troops and vehicles he-ing in your dir-ion!" Biting her lower lip, Alyx got unto her feet heading to the radio as she began talking to her brother. "Dusty, I'm going to attempt to send the wound to a different location, know that if anything happens to me, I'll at least manage a good deed by keeping those under my care safe…" In response her brother says "Be car—ful Al—x, ple— come –ck safely."

Turning the radio off, she turned her attention to the men, woman and children as she begins speaking. "Listen up everyone! The 'Reds' are coming and we need to move everyone out. Quickest to safety is to go to the rooftop and take the fire exits rails to the courtyard behind. Upon reaching the courtyard, continue down a block and head to the abandon subway terminal."

Helping the injured, she manages to lead them to the stairs, before hearing the soldiers' shouts down the corridor. She then pulls out the M9 Beretta pistol her brother gave her. Aiming at first man in uniform, her hands begin trembling as time seems to freeze. Never before has she tried taking the life of a human being. Sweat begins to forming at her brow, her hands beginning to feel clammy. With her index finger over the trigger, she bites her lower lip as she finally pulls the trigger. The first shot manages to hit the kneecap of the first soldier as he falls, the rest of the soldiers start taking aim as she follows the rest of Freedom Fighters. After reaching the rooftop and practically skipping steps on the rails, she ran as the soldiers begin trailing her. Deciding to lead the soldiers away from the resistant fighters, she took a different way. Heading east, she cut through the alley way running across the street in front of several cars, nearly being hit in the process. She begins opening a manhole desperately, almost about to climb down, when the soldiers begin swarming in around her, their AKM's raise. Alyx bravely got unto her feet asking her captors "What are you going to do…." Finally seconds pass, as the commander appears. "Take her away for questioning!" He barks at his soldiers. Alyx tries to resisting only to swiftly receiving a blow to head by the butt of the rifle, her vision fading.

Sitting in the middle of the room, strap in a chair, the commander walks in. The man look like a brute, appearing at least 6'7 in height, and muscular, his eyes were cold as ice as he glares at me, before speaking with force. "Terrorist rat, tell me where your comrades are, if you do tell us the location of the terrorist base, perhaps you'll be given a lighter sentence."

A smile crept up on Alyx's face as she glances up at him before motioning him closer with her head. As he leans his ear in, she bites it hard, as the Commander howls in pain swearing in both English and Russian as Alyx then spits in his face. "Go to hell." She said simply, as the man grits his teeth as he turns to his second in command. "Send her to the prison campsup in Manhattan under General Tatarin and make sure to treat her like the bitch she is, let the soldiers have her way with her." He says before leaving.

Four months had pass since Alyx had been sent to the prison camps in Manhattan. She lay in the middle of the snow ridden ground. Where dreams and hope one shine in her eyes, now only shadows of the latter remained. Nothing, but hollowness remain in her eyes. Her spirit had been broken, constantly raped by soldiers for the first three months in her new home. Soon she asks herself the same question the man she treated months ago asked her. "Why do we continue to fight?" She wonders that perhaps God might answer her question this time instead of herself giving an answer. Staring at the electrical prison fences which kept her prisoner, her appearance look different, she look nearly just skin and bones. Suddenly gunfire erupted outside. The soldiers were quickly dispatched as a man leading a squad enter in view, his appearance show her that he fought all those months the invasion began. The Man orders one of his recruits to find the source of the power that power the electricity to the cage. Alyx finally summon some courage to ask her savior. "Who….are you…" She asks weakly as the man with the weather black hair, and dark chocolate eyes finally said. "Depends whose side you're on, for the Reds I'm known as the Freedom Phantom, the Freedom Fighters who serve under me, they know me as Chris Stone."

The day she met him Alyx question had been answered.


End file.
